Melissa 'Missy' Higgins (b. 1983), singer/songwriter, began singing in her early teens, falsifying her age to get into clubs to play with her brother's jazz combo. While she was a student at Geelong Grammar in 2001, the demo track 'All for Believing' won her Triple J's Unearthed unsigned artists' competition. She was soon offered a contract with local label Eleven. In 2004 Higgins screamed to the top of the Australian charts with hit singles including 'Scar'. The most played song on Australian radio that year, it was voted the APRA song of the year and second-best song on Triple J's 'Hottest 100' poll. Her first album The Sound of White (2004) debuted at number one and ensured Higgins scooped the pool at the 2005 ARIA awards, winning Best Pop Release, Breakthrough Artist (album), Highest Selling Album, Best Female Artist and Album of the Year. Following the release of On A Clear Night, she won the ARIA for Best Female Artist in 2007. Her subsequent albums include The Ol' Razzle Dazzle (2012), Oz (2014), Solastalgia (2018) and The Special Ones (2018). Her song 'Torchlight', written for the film Don't Tell, won Best Original Song at the 2017 APRA Screen Music Awards, and she also wrote a number of songs for ABC's Total Control. Higgins supported Ed Sheeran on his 2018 Australian tour, the largest series of concerts in Australian history with one million tickets sold. Her 2019 Coming Home Tour with the John Butler Trio included two sold-out shows at the Sydney Opera House forecourt. Higgins is passionate about environmental issues and tries to ensure that her tours are carbon neutral.
